The New Era edition of September 24, 2014 carried an article by Albertina Nakale with the headline, “Grade 12 failures study medicine in China.”
While it may be true that there are indeed students with lower grades studying in that country, I find it incorrect and to a certain degree offending to refer to them as failures.
Countless success stories are associated with mistakes and obstacles.
Look at Thomas Edison, who failed over 6,000 times before he perfected the first electrical light bulb. On the other hand, Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team and missed over 9,000 shots in his career.
Furthermore, Oprah Winfrey was fired from an early anchor spot and deemed “unfit for TV”.
In addition, Lady Gaga was dropped by Island Def Jam Records after only three months. Isak Katali (my boss), Margret M. Williams, David Namwandi, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, Joel Kaapanda, Martha Tilahun-Namundjebo, Jerry Ekandjo, Katrina Hanse-Himarwa and many others failed to sail through to the top of the list like they usually do. However, this “failure” does not render them failures as there is still a niche for them to do wonders than some failures (if I can speak the New Era language) that topped the list.
When we were at varsity passing with flying colours, it is always the failures afterwards that never made it to the top echelon of the class who secured employment first and landed executive positions. At times it is not individuals who fail themselves but, squarely the system in which they are components that fails them.
If I look back at some of my teachers then, I always think that they should have been fired and pay hefty for the damage they caused.
I graduated from high school without forming a simple English sentence. I obtained a “U” symbol in English. I managed to pick up, went to varsity and graduated and reached a level where I am today. However, according to New Era I and many others are failures.
In my culture, it is a taboo for a girl to fall pregnant (okakadhona ka mita).
If she does, she is regarded as a failure. During a wedding ceremony, elders sing as follows: “Wa yauka mefuta yakweni taya silemo,” meaning: you sailed through the ocean while others drowned. The point I am driving at is that, it is sometimes the failures’ relationships that prosper, while for the ones that have not made children before marriage (inava mita) end up in squabbles and divorces. In comparison, the failures studying in China have the opportunity to prosper than the highly regarded studying at Unam under the auspices of Professor Nyarango.
Journalism in Namibia is still at an infancy stage.
Journalists should not write for the sake of filling up pages when there are no commercials but, they must carefully chose words that are worth readers’ consumption.
I salute the Chinese for admitting our failures as a measure of correcting the outcome of our educational system calamity. Failing in life is a common occurrence in an uncertain environment in which we operate.
It is a 100 percent natural part of human nature.
That is why planes are crashing; expecting mothers and children are dying in our health care facilities; buildings are cracking; and pharmacies are running out of medicines. It is often said, “If you have never failed before, you have never tried anything new.”
While everybody wants to succeed, there is no guarantee that we will all make it. Therefore, the ability to recover from setback and move forward is essential. I am sure, out of the failures studying in China will emerge a prominent medical practitioner who we will be proud of.